Crypto | Bitcoin | Blockchain

2023-05-09 05:56:02 South Korea Authorities Investigate Lawmaker Over Suspicious Crypto Transfers: Report

South Korea's financial watchdog has reported to local prosecutors a series of crypto transactions by an opposition party lawmaker, which has sparked domestic outrage over a potential conflict of interest. Rep. Kim Nam-kuk of the Democratic Party of Korea allegedly withdrew 800,000 WEMIX tokens from late February to early March in 2022, and the transactions were reported to the Financial Services Commission's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

The FIU classified the withdrawals as suspicious transactions and reported them to the prosecutor's office, the report said. South Korea implemented global standard-setter FATF's travel rule on March 25, 2022, shortly after Kim reportedly made his withdrawals. The travel rule requires exchanges to collect personal data on transactions and report them to authorities when they exceed a certain threshold. Kim said that he did not cash out his tokens and did not violate any laws, according to the report. There is no reporting requirement for virtual assets in South Korea's Public Service Ethics Act.

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2023-05-08 11:50:04 Kazakhstan Has Collected $7 Million In Taxes From Cryptocurrency Miners Since Imposing A 500% Tax

The mining of cryptocurrencies has resulted in Kazakhstan’s government collecting more than $7 million in taxes in both this year and last year combined from enterprises operating in the nation. According to the announcement made by the State Revenue Commission of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan, the country’s Ministry of Finance collected taxes of 3.07 billion tenge (almost $6.9 million) in 2022 from enterprises associated to the minting of digital currency.

Since the beginning of 2018, miners of cryptocurrency in the country located in Central Asia have been required to pay various taxes and fees. By April 27 of the following year, 2023, they had transferred 240 million tenge, which was roughly $540,000, into the budget. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a new law titled “On Digital Assets in the Republic of Kazakhstan” on February 6 of this year; however, some of the terms of that law have not yet taken effect. In particular, the law places limitations on the availability of affordable electricity for miners. The fact that the law was passed shows that this country is interested in the growth of the business, as stated by Sergey Putra, Senior Coordinator for Government Relations at the National Blockchain and Data Center business Association in Kazakhstan.

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2023-05-07 13:22:02 UK’s FCA Strengthens Control Of Crypto ATMs To Avoid Money Laundering Risks

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom is clamping down on the usage of cryptocurrency ATMs, as indicated by raids in three locations. The FCA said that it had assessed premises in Exeter, Nottingham, and Sheffield in collaboration with the local police. The devices used to convert fiat cash into cryptocurrency are considered a money laundering risk, and none are registered with the FCA as needed by law.

Some nations, though, are adopting a very different strategy. Crypto ATMs are becoming more prevalent in the United States and Australia, despite efforts by some to connect them to money laundering and prohibit their usage. In the lack of any FCA permission, the operation of crypto ATMs is prohibited in the United Kingdom. Their usage is associated with organized crime, according to officials. Local organized crime forces in the region assisted in the searches this week as part of a coordinated operation targeting unlawful usage. The FCA said that it was analyzing the information gathered during its examination but did not clarify what if any, additional action would be taken.

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2023-05-06 06:07:02 Pepe memecoin tops $1 billion market cap even as Binance flags lack of utility

Pepe, a crypto token styled on the Pepe the Frog cartoon meme, climbed past $1 billion in market cap for the first time as traders pushed it into the top 50 most valuable coins. One pepe is currently worth $0.00000279, according to data provider CoinGecko. The token has risen 67% over the past 24 hours and surged more than 10-fold over the past week, making pepe the 45th largest by market value.

Memecoins — which take a recognisable internet meme and add an element of financial speculation — have a long history in crypto, even if they have zero utility. Naive investors can be drawn into their parabolic gains, which have a habit of crashing suddenly and leaving those who bought near the top nursing huge losses. Two dog-themed tokens — dogecoin and shiba inu — have become fixtures in the ranks of the most valuable crypto projects since the pandemic-fueled market action of 2020 and 2021. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has regularly tweeted his appreciation for dogecoin, often with his tongue at least partly in his cheek, and research firms such as Chainalysis have bowed to pressure to cover it.

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2023-05-05 06:13:02 Nigeria Approves National Policy to Create 'Blockchain-Powered' Economy

Nigeria's government approved a national blockchain policy on Wednesday as part of the country's effort to transition to a digital economy. "The vision of the Policy is to create a Blockchain-powered economy that supports secure transactions, data sharing, and value exchange between people, businesses, and Government, thereby enhancing innovation, trust, growth and prosperity for all," the statement said.

The tweet did not mention cryptocurrencies, which the government cracked down on in 2021 after the country emerged as one of the fastest digital asset adopters in the world. The cabinet, known as the Federal Executive Council, directed regulators including the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) "to develop regulatory instruments for the deployment" of blockchain tech across various sectors of the economy. Earlier in the week, Bloomberg reported Nigeria's SEC was considering allowing tokenized coin offerings backed by equity, debt or property – but “not crypto” – on licensed digital asset exchanges.

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2023-05-04 05:56:02 Binance, Circle chime in on UK's proposed crypto regulatory framework

Crypto exchange Binance and stablecoin issuer Circle submitted feedback to the UK government as the country considers a new framework to govern both trading and lending of digital assets. Binance, by far the largest exchange in the world in terms of volume, said that special attention needed to be paid to consumer protection, market integrity and financial stability. It warned, however, that disproportionate regulation could "inadvertently stifle innovation and growth, remove choice and competition."

While disclosure requirements should "provide the right information to consumers," Binance said it questioned whether trading venues can "take on the responsibilities of the issuer in a traditional sense" when there is no issuer. It also said that decentralized finance needs to be "carefully defined," with differences considered and accommodated in the drafting of new rules. The feedback comes as global regulators are figuring out how to regulate the industry. Last month, the European Union officially passed its Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation after lawmakers in the European Parliament approved the rules. And in the U.S.,And in this U.S.

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2023-05-03 07:16:02 Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy Books a Much Smaller Bitcoin Impairment Charge

Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy (MSTR) booked a far smaller accounting writedown tied to its bitcoin (BTC) hoard last quarter versus the final three months of 2022, helped by the cryptocurrency's giant rally to begin the year. MicroStrategy's impairment loss was $18.9 million for the first quarter, down from the fourth quarter's $197.6 million and the $170.1 million loss a year earlier, according to a statement Monday.

The company also bought more bitcoin in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 140,000, and pre-paid its Silvergate loan. “We strengthened our capital structure by reducing leverage by fully repaying our bitcoin-backed loan. We also continued to strategically manage our balance sheet through the addition of 7,500 bitcoin in the quarter," said Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kang said in the statement. "The conviction in our bitcoin strategy remains strong as the digital asset environment continues to mature." Shares of the business-software company rose about 2% in after-hours trading on Monday, following the release of the quarterly results.

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2023-05-02 06:13:02 Memecoin PEPE Has Entered The Top 100 Cyptocurrencies In Terms Of Market Valuation

PEPE, a fresh 17-day-old initiative, maintains its lead in this year’s memecoin season with strong growth. The token has gained by 84.1% in the last 24 hours and 241.5% in the last 7 days, according to CoinGecko. This token nearly surpassed the top 100 largest coins on the market in the early afternoon of May 1, 2023, with a current market value of 451.5 million USD. As a result, the green frog became the market’s third largest memecoin, trailing only two dogs, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

With market capitalizations of $400 million and $322.5 million, respectively, the growth of PEPE pushed BABYDOGE and FLOKI to fourth and fifth place. The PEPE community is celebrating the project’s top 100 milestone, which has resulted in the $PEPE keyword trending on Twitter recently. Of course, with such rapid expansion, there is no shortage of “life-changing” examples made possible by PEPE. The unifying feature of these wallets is that, because to “early entry,” purchasing PEPE at a low cost makes it simple to open accounts. Despite being heavily promoted on all fronts by the community, investors must remain vigilant in order to assess risks and limit fomo at this time.

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2023-05-01 05:48:02 US Senator Ted Cruz: 'I Like BTC for the Same Reason the Chinese Communist Govt Doesn’t Like BTC'

United States Senator Ted Cruz has said he remains “incredibly bullish on bitcoin” which he described as the “alpha in the crypto sphere.” According to Cruz, people are attracted to bitcoin because they see it as a hedge against inflation and also as an “important check” against government spending. The remarks by Cruz, a Republican from Texas, came at a time when the Biden administration has upped the ante in its fight against the crypto industry.

As has been reported by Bitcoin.com News since the start of 2023, U.S. officials and agencies have targeted crypto entities as part of the so-called Operation Chokepoint 2.0. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges have ranged from illegally selling securities to American citizens to promoting these without the requisite permissions. Cruz added that the printing of trillions of dollars over the past two years had led to what he described as “significant inflation.” According to Cruz, since BTC is less “susceptible to government control” it can therefore act as an “important check” against wasting government spending.

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2023-04-30 04:56:02 U.S. House Will Have Crypto Bill in 2 Months: McHenry

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee and House Agriculture Committee will put together legislation to oversee the crypto sector in the "next two months" after holding joint public hearings starting May, said Rep. Patrick McHenry (R–N.C.), chair of the House Financial Services Committee. When asked whether such a bill could be signed by President Joe Biden in the next 12 months, McHenry told a crowd at CoinDesk's Consensus 2023 event.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), the other panellist during the session, said she looked forward to coordinating those efforts with McHenry, adding that the House had a better chance than the Senate at getting legislation through earlier. She said if the House moves first on crypto, it would "improve our chances" in the Senate. The U.S. Congress has so far been unable to get comprehensive legislation on crypto passed despite a number of bills making progress on Capitol Hill last year. But this month Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee took a swing at finding bipartisanship support for a second effort at stablecoin legislation, though bipartisan support remains uncertain.

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